Gods
by SylverEyes
Summary: The gods are bored, and they've found some new playthings. The Gaang, Ozai's Angels, and Zuko fight their way through many obstacles, many of them completely contradictory to their morals. [Little if any romance.] Rating upped for gore. [Temp. suspended]
1. Meet the Cast

Another story of mine, for people who like me. Or my writing. This one is about how the main character kids of Avatar become the play things of the gods, and they have to do horrible things to get back to their home. Some of the things go completely against their morals, but they do it so they can leave. Just a reminder- no beta-ness! Yes, sad, I know.

Disclaimer: I love Avatar, and I would give anything to own it, but for some reason the creators won't sell it for my sister.

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They sat regally on chairs wrought of elements so pure and beautiful it hurt for mortal eyes to look at them. They sat with their hands folded on their laps, straight-backed, serious looks on their faces as they surveyed everything below them. There was a mix of males and females, all of varying sizes, skin colors, jobs and most importantly, personalities.

"We," announced one formal looking male in the center. He brought his fist down on the arm of his chair that was gold, but looked like a cloud. It was soft, and hugged his shape whenever he moved. "Have a problem."

The others nodded intently, some of them smiling, others eyes flashing, and even others looking as though they weren't paying attention at all. But they all nodded; they all agreed.

"Kaia," the same man barked, turning his head to one of the girls sitting by the edge. She sat up, going from her slouched position and tapping her fingers on her throne of ice, to one of absolute attention.

"What's the status?"

The young woman closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her face grew slack and she said in a resounding voice, "Their foolish war is close coming to an end. Either way it will end up, we will be finished. The time it took preparing, the careful precautions and limits we that will run out, and take double the time to duplicate again. Our options are few and not very appealing." Her eyes opened and she stared at everyone else.

"In other words!" the man boomed. "Our problem is that we have nothing to do!"

A collective gasp ran throughout the room. Murmurs arose, and they complained in low voices. It had been a _very _long time since there had been nothing at all for them to amuse themselves with. Playing with people was all and well, but even they had rules. Restrictions that would prevent them from having too much fun.

"No unknown dictators?" questioned a small man, his curly brown hair bouncing around his eyes that were widened with surprise.

"No," assured Kaia.

"No undead children?" asked a woman with a sharp voice, adjusting the vines wrapping thoroughly throughout her hair. Her green eyes pierced the young woman.

Kaia shook her head, looking almost miserable.

"Are you sure that there aren't any cities that want to exact revenge upon… _anyone_?" another voice pleaded.

"No!" Kaia fiercely said, standing up, her dress swishing with silken noises, but much more impressive and lulling than any finery in palaces. "Not anything that would keep our attention for more than a few moments."

"Kaia, sit down!" ordered a young woman to the right of the man who had first spoken. Her voice was gentle but filled with authority, and Kaia reluctantly obeyed, glaring at those staring at her.

"Damnit, Yue, I won't have you giving people commands!" exclaimed a man on the other end of the circle. Blue light crackled around him, and electricity surrounded him, making his fiery eyes and temper seem heightened. "You just got here!"

Yue sent him a look, but he didn't wither at all. She had yet to get used to the face that these companions were not as easily intimidated as the ones she had used to be with. He continued heatedly, "La help me, but I wish she were back. She knew her place, and she kept to it!"

"La was murdered by a man with your bending powers, Dezo, on purpose, with murderous intentions. La did not mean for any of that to happen." A man with a calm, relaxing tone of voice, sitting on a throne made of shifting water.

"You stay out of this, Tui! I don't need any of your water tribe talk. Just keep Yue were she belongs and I won't bother her any more. But until she learns who she is, she's going to need _reminders_," his voice was scathing.

A woman, one of the youngest there, grinned heartily. "Ooh great, another idiotic fight! Spoiled water tribe princess against hot-headed, cocky, lightning man. This could be interesting."

The man who had first spoken gave her a look and said quietly, "That will be enough from you, Karhani. Don't you have enough on your hands with all of the tricks people are trying to get you to pull?"

"Yeah, well maybe I'd have an easier time with that, Ouranos, if you'd make me the _full _goddess of choices!" she shot back hotly, crossing her arms.

Ouranos looked scandalized, "Are you crazy? No ones life would ever be the same. Minor, minor is fine for you, Karhani."

Gaia snapped her fingers. The old woman's eyes were full of wisdom, matched only by Ouranos's himself. "This is silly," although her age was long, she was still sharp as a pin, and her eyes snapped around at everyone. "Stop acting like humans, will you? We came here to make a plan, and that is what we will do,"

Ouranos nodded thankfully. "We know our problem, and we need to find a solution. Any suggestions?"

Karhani giggled, "Now this is my type of thing!"

Kaia gave her a look that Karhani grinned in response to and put her chin in her hands, thinking deeply.

Saneo smiled, his invisible chair shimmering as he came up with an idea. "Well, we're bored, why don't we just choose some people to play with? Ha, I already know a bunch of things that I could do to them." His gray eyes flashed dangerously.

"Don't be absurd!" cried Kaia. "Are you suggesting that we travel from the spirit world to the natural world? We can die, contrary to popular opinion. La was proof of that, life lived in full," she intoned the last part, what the gods said when talking of one departed.

"Of course not!" Saneo crossed his arms, glaring at the young girl. "I'm talking about bringing them here. We could put them in a bunch of different situations, test them. Sure, the journey into the spirit world wouldn't be pleasant for them, but they would survive. We could put them back after making a deal with them, or something." He shrugged.

Most were seriously considering this. They nodded slowly, small smiles forming on some of their faces.

Yue glanced around, distressed. How could they do that to someone? She knew what it was like to be a human, and she knew what it was like to feel the gods meddle in your life, she had seen people touched by them. It didn't look very pleasant, and she didn't want to put that onto anyone else. The moon spirit shared a worried look with Tui.

Ouranos stood up. "It's decided," he told them, voice echoing all though there was nothing for it to echo off of.

Dezo's eyes were eager, and he leaned to the side, whispering to the woman with the sharp voice. She smiled and nodded, agreeing with him.

Yue turned to Ouranos. In her eyes was the moon and her touch was light and caressing, softly, almost as though it wasn't there. She looked up at him with pleading eyes, her white hair shining in the light that radiated from where they were gathered.

"Ouranos, are you sure that this is the best way to fix this problem?" she asked softly.

He smiled kindly down at her. "Of course. Nothing terrible will happen to them, and if it does," he shrugged, "People can be replaced."

Yue lurched back, horrified. But she should have expected it. What were people to the gods but little things that they watched over, gave gifts to, or shunned? There was nothing special about them that could touch their hearts.

There was only one person who was important to them, and that was the Avatar. All others were just people, rich, poor, bending, no bending, kind, mean. They were all the same to them.

Dezo leaned forward eagerly, "Who should we pick for our little game?" he asked, voice oily and disgusting. Yue made a face when he wasn't looking, dignity forgotten. Tui saw this and hid a smile behind his hand. Kaia rolled her eyes at Yue's immaturity, and Karhani was leaning forward with Dezo.

They all gazed at the world, listening and looking.

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"I didn't want this, I didn't want any of this!" raved a boy who could be no older than sixteen. He was pacing around the place, which happened to be a giant bison's saddle. He stopped himself from staring over the edge. His brown wolftail bounced almost comically, and his blue eyes were furious.

"I didn't want to travel around the world, my life was fine! A warrior in my village, protecting everyone else, a simple life. No… no bending, no huge wars, no giant flying monster and no Earth Kings!" he roared, pointing an accusing finger at the man in question.

Watching his rant was a group of odd people, most of them children. A small girl in green with long black hair pulled up, but bangs hanging in her eyes, was listening with an amused look on her face. Her eyes were a very pale green, and she lay on the makeshift saddle easily.

Another was a tall girl with dark skin and blue eyes. Her face was one of annoyance, and her arms were crossed over her chest. Her blue robes swished in the wind along with her long braid and hair loops, and her graceful fingers brushed carelessly along her waterskin, wondering whether she should hit her brother over the head with a piece of ice.

A young boy near her watched his friend, an "is he insane?" look plastered upon his features. He had blue arrows on his bald head, along his arms, and his legs. He was always smiling, gray eyes twinkling, although right now he was staring. His yellow and orange clothes were unique among the people, since he was the one and only airbender left in the world.

Two men were on the bison as well. One was, indeed, and Earth King, dressed in all his green finery and flinching at the young man's harsh words. He sat through it all without saying anything.

The other was a very dark-skinned man with a long white beard. His clothes were very loose and baggy, and he looked all arms and legs, no fat or muscle on his body at all. But he had a kindness about him, and he had helped Aang master the Avatar State.

Aang was the Avatar, the last airbender left in the world. Right now, he and the people on his bison were flying to the North Pole, the bring news of the solar eclipse to Chief Arnook there, because fortunately, the North Pole had not been taken over by the Fire Nation, like Ba Sing Se had been.

This was causing stress for Sokka more than even Aang, for a couple of reasons. The Fire Nation seemed to be gaining control everywhere, and he felt like he was fighting a losing battle. The journey to the North Pole was a long one, and they wanted to get there as fast as possible, so they were flying as much as they could, and resting little. The food was being rationed very carefully, and Sokka felt that he was being deprived of food. Last, but definitely not least, was that the North Pole was where he had fallen in love with a princess, Yue, but she had died to become the moon spirit.

"Stupid people, stupid Avatar, stupid Fire Nation! I can't live like this anymore, I have to stay somewhere, this is going to drive me crazy! I didn't want to have too much weight on my shoulders! To top it all off, we have to find you a firebending teacher, and-" he was pulled down into a sitting position by his sister, who looked murderous.

"Sokka, shut up! If it's bad for you, imagine how Aang feels! Besides all that, he's got a _hole _in his _back_! If he can deal with it, so can you! Also, you're hurting people's feelings…" she nodded at the Earth King, who blinked and gave a watery smile.

Sokka looked at him with an expression that could only be disgust, and scooted backwards, sulking. He wanted to reach for the food back, but didn't. It looked seriously depleted, and Katara had slapped his hand with his own boomerang last time.

Aang gave a sigh of relief, "Wooh, glad that's over!" he smiled at his traveling companions.

Toph grunted, "Tell me about it! My ears were practically bleeding. He sounded like a baby. Even his voice, which _still _cracks," she added loudly, for Sokka's benefit.

The warrior glared at the young earthbender, but didn't reply. It was true, his voice did still crack. Katara had teased him about it before, and now it seemed that Toph had picked up the habit, although that was to be expected.

The Guru opened one eye from his meditating position and patted Appa, "You're doing so well, " he told him softly, completely oblivious to the scene going on around him. He hadn't moved an inch during Sokka's long-winded and angry speech.

"Scary, isn't he?" asked he Earth King, leaning over the side with the Guru. Guru Patik said nothing, but went back to meditating.

The king gave him an odd look, and tried to copy his movements, slow breaths and such. Katara nudged Aang and pointed this out; the two of them giggled at the sight.

Toph closed her eyes and listened to the wind rushing by above her head. "This is going to be a long ride," she muttered, before drifting off to sleep.

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The four of them were sitting at a table; just the four of them. Three girls and one guy. This might sound tempting, if the situation had been a bit different, and if the boy was a completely different person.

Firstly, one of the girls was his sister. They had hated each other to no end up until recently, when their relationship, if not becoming friendly, was definitely more… lax. Secondly, the other two girls were Azula's best friends, and they had joined her in hunting him down, again, until recently.

Zuko was still wary around them, and he couldn't help but think about his uncle, locked away in a cell, being chased by the three girls, his younger self repeating _"Azula always lies."_ He knew that she was their father's puppet, and probably hadn't stopped being so.

But the pull of his honor, his father's love, was too strong.

"Wine, brother?" Azula asked easily, pouring a glass for her older sibling anyway. He looked at her suspiciously before taking it. Her grin widened; in Zuko's opinion, she looked like a vampire.

"No need to be suspicious, dear brother, we're on the same side now." It was true, and the _words _sounded sincere, but the tone that she said it in, underneath the layers of sugar seemed to be poison.

Zuko growled silently. She was too good at this. He couldn't tell whether she meant it or not.

The other two girls sat beside them. One was wearing black and dark red. Her nails were black as well, and she wasn't smiling. Her pale face was striking in contrast with her silky black hair. She sat next to Zuko, eating lazily and listening.

The other girl was the complete opposite. Bubbly and pink, she could never stop talking or moving. Her smile reached from ear to ear, and sometimes that could send shivers down Zuko's spine just as much as Azula did.

In reply to his sister's comment, he took a slow sip of the wine and quickly put it back down on the table as though burned.

A small frown formed on Azula's lips, and she said, "Oh, I'm _hurt_, Zuko. Why would _I _have need to kill _you_?"

He flinched. For some reason, her words seemed unfinished. '_Yet,_' his brain supplied for him.

Ty Lee looked at Azula, "So, what are we going to do now Azula? We've taken over the city, but are we going to let the people know that the Fire Nation now rules them? The Dai Lee aren't new, so they won't suspect anything."

Mai nodded, "We will, but later, not right away. We need to win more people to our side in secret first." She felt one of her blades beneath her robe and smiled slightly.

Azula gave Mai a look that could have cut glass. "I _believe _that question was directed towards me, Mai. However, you are correct. We will eventually let it be known, especially once the Fire Lord sends in more Fire Nation troops to reinforce the Dai Lee. We can handle anything."

Zuko sat in silence through this, his mind going back to his uncle. He couldn't help but feel that he had betrayed Iroh, even though Azula had assured him that Iroh had betrayed _him_. But since when did he trust Azula?

He took a hesitant bite of his meat, but put his fork down. Food wasn't top on his list of 'To Do' things.

_My honor…_

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"Hmmm…" Kaia opened her eyes. They returned to their normal, non-fuzzed-over state. "What about we choose those who are affecting the war? What we do to them might change the outcome. Then we might have more fun."

The other gods nodded at this proposal. "I'm saying…" she paused and checked again. "Aang, the Avatar. His companions. The four in the palace at Ba Sing Se. Only the children though, the adults would be more able to handle the situations." She stopped again, thinking, but nodded. "That's it… for now."

"Then it's settled," Gaia said formally. "We bring them to us tomorrow for the start of 'our little game'."

Yue's face was the picture of horror. They were even going to bring Aang?! But he was the Avatar! Oh, how she wished she could stop this.

Apparently, Tui shared her worries, and they exchanged another look. But what could they do, against all of the other gods?

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**Author's Notes:**

Please review! I'd like to know what you think. I already know what I think, but I'm not psychic. I don't even know if that works over the internet. -tries and fails- Nope. Not working.

I hope I did a good job of varying the types of gods and goddesses, and they don't seem too Mary-Sue or Gary-Stu like. Sorry if they do, and please tell me. I always imagined Tui to be a guy, I mean, why should all water gods be girls? So I made Tui a guy.

I couldn't remember whether the Guru was on Appa at the season finale or not, and I couldn't find it on You Tube! -is distressed- But since I figured time had passed, because they had made a makeshift saddle, they had picked him up to help Aang further along with his Avatar State. There you have it- my logic.

Please read and review!


	2. A Little Situation

Chapter two! Even though I only have two reviews, they really inspired me to write, because they said so many good things about this story. Again, even though it was only two, it's the best reception I've ever gotten. Thank you:

**To.Be.Indeed** and **LilMizzStarx.**

Disclaimer: I as of recently own a very fuzzy blanket, but no Avatar.

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Toph yawned and sat up. She crawled out of her earth tent and stretched, standing up. The sun caressed her skin, but she shivered with the chill wind that blew around their camp at this early hour of the morning.

An burning smell led her to the fire which was already going. Aang crouched by the side of the pit, staring into its depths. Toph bent and squatted next to him. "Why up so early, Twinkle Toes? Don't you normally sleep in?"

"Not when I'm excited," Aang pointed out, eyes not blinking as he watched the flames dance, in a sort of trance.

Toph rolled her eyes. "But you're not. What's up?"

Aang growled. She was very perceptive for somebody very blunt and often rude. "Well, I was just thinking about what Sokka was saying yesterday. It's true, isn't it? I'm just a burden to everyone else." His head hung low.

The earthbender snorted. "You're going to listen to Sokka? He was just hungry and tired. He'll be fine, don't worry. And you're needed. So don't be stupid, or I might just have to knock some sense into you."

Aang grinned in spite of himself. "Thanks Toph." He was particularly afraid of that warning.

She nodded to him and turned around. "Wake up, everybody!" she called at the top of her voice. The rest of their group sat up suddenly, looking around wildly, as though they were all being attacked.

"What's happening, what's wrong?" asked Katara, jumping up and pulling out her bending water. "I heard you scream, Toph,"

"Oh nothing," replied Toph, again sitting next to Aang. "I just wanted to get you guys up, sleepyheads. Were you going to sleep all day?" she asked, smirking.

Sokka turned around to judge the sun's position. "It's six in the morning!" he cried, outraged.

Toph shrugged as Aang chuckled. "The earlier we start, the farther we go," she pointed out to the water tribe boy.

"Oh, now I'm _definitely_ am going to get up earlier every day," Sokka grumbled, slumping to the ground. "Where's the food?"

"I'll hold you to that," Toph grinned at him as Katara started to bring out their breakfast for the day.

"_You guys ready for a game?"_ a voice asked. It thundered and made the trees shake, but there was no one there to have made such a noise. The voice was female, and sounded like she could only be a few years older than Sokka. Before any of them could react, it spoke again._ "Doesn't matter. Come on," _it said, and the four children in their group felt themselves sucked into a vortex was whirling colors and sounds. If they screamed, they couldn't tell, because it was already extremely loud, pounding on their eardrums.

Their feet all slammed into the ground and they toppled over, drawing deep breaths as they hadn't been able to breathe while traveling through that whirlwind of space.

"_Have fun,"_ the same voice said. Although this time it was much closer, and the children could tell that there was a distinct laughing note to it.

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The Earth King stared at the four smoking spots where their young companions had been sitting or standing just a moment before. His eyes were bugling, and he was frozen, unable to believe that anyone could disappear- just like that.

Uncertain, the man turned to the Guru, who was frowning unhappily. In answer to the unasked question, he said, "They're in the hands of the gods now." He gazed off into the distance, as though the old man could see something that the other could not. "I'm sorry,"

The Earth King shook his head slowly, staring off to where Guru Patik was, but not seeing anything. _I'm going mad._

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"Up so early, Zuko?"

The voice slithered like a snake would, and Zuko lost his concentration, resulting in a fizzled out, depressing fireball instead of a large, powerful one like he had been trying to achieve.

The prince turned to his sister. "What are you doing here Azula?"

"Careful, brother," she let her nails scrape lightly against a green pillar, making soft scratching noises that caused the hair on the back of Zuko's neck to stand up straight, and shivers to crawl down his spine.

She added no more, but Zuko knew exactly what she was talking about. His chest heaved and sweat clung to his body. Zuko had been up even before the sun, practicing his firebending. It was the only outlet for his confusion, frustration, and even though he wouldn't admit it to himself, hurt, that he had.

"Would you care to join me for breakfast? I've noticed that you aren't eating anything lately. Afraid that it's poisoned? Or is something troubling you?" All the while she spoke, she drew closer.

Zuko felt himself stuck to the spot, even though his mind was screaming at him to back away as his feet wouldn't move. The siblings stood face to face, close enough to feel each other's breath on their faces, to feel the heat shedding from their bodies in sheets, as happened with all firebenders.

They stood like that for what seemed like an eternity before Zuko pulled himself out of the pools of molten gold that were his sister's eyes, and stepped away. As soon as he did, she smirked. She had won that one.

"Come on Zuzu, or the food'll get cold. Mai and Ty Lee are waiting." And she strode out, purposeful, like she was with everything else she did.

When Azula was gone, Zuko found his voice. "No, I don't want to join you," he murmured, but no one heard him.

After a few more moments wasted contemplating, he followed back into the room where they had had dinner just last night. True to her word, her friends were already there, and their lavish breakfast was laid out on the red tablecloth.

The prince sat down slowly and stared at his empty plate, his appetite still eluding his grasp.

Azula's observations were correct; he had not been eating, and was losing weight quickly, something that did not need to happen. In the back of his head, voice that was constantly there wondered whether it had been the right choice to join his sister.

Of course! He snapped to himself. Control slipping out of his reach for a second, he stabbed the knife into the table and stared at it, his breath heaving again as it had just minutes before when he had been training.

Ty Lee and Mai stared at the knife, taken aback. The low chatting that had taken place up until then died out, and there was no smile on the acrobat's face anymore. Mai remained impassive, although it was clear that she was surprised as well.

Azula, however, was gazing at her brother's face. He had schooled his features, but just before there had been an ugly, twisted look on his face, and his gold eyes had shone maniacally.

Before she had time to say anything, a loud, powerful voice echoed around the enormous hall, _"You guys ready for a game?" _it was clearly a girl's voice. All four of the kids jumped, and spun around, but no one was there. _"Doesn't matter. Come on," _it continued, and the kids were pulled backwards into a spinning whirlpool of color and sound. The noises pressed upon their ears, and although they tried to fight it, they couldn't do anything about it.

Their feet hit the ground all of a sudden, and their knees buckled, making them collapse onto the ground, gasping for air, as there had been none in the vortex.

"_Have fun," _that same voice said. It was clearer, louder, and very obviously laughing at them.

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An agent of the Dai Lee walked silently into the room, his head bowed as he headed to where he knew the princess and her three helpers to be eating their breakfast. He chanced a glance up, and stopped in his tracks.

There was nobody there. A few smoke tendrils curled up towards the ceiling, but otherwise, nothing.

He searched every corner of the room, knowing that Azula was very clever and sneaky, but he could find no one. He contemplated calling aloud for her, but decided against it. A slow grin spread across his face. It was clear that the city had at least a few days to itself, and he was going to make the most of that.

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Katara wobbled to her feet, clutching at the nearest thing to her, which happened to be her brother. She felt her stomach heave, and stumbled to her knees again, emptying the contents of her gut onto the ground. She could feel the others trying to get away from her quickly, but they were having trouble moving too.

Sokka was the next to give into the inevitable; Katara heard retching noises from somewhere behind her as she struggled to stand up again. When she did, she turned around to see whether her friends were okay.

Toph look pale, and was clutching her at abdomen as though in pain. Her legs looked like jelly. Sokka was still on the ground, head hanging over the pile of vomit pooling there. To stop from puking again, she quickly looked away.

Out of the four of them, Aang looked the best off. He leaned against a nearby tree, knuckles white. Toph was now throwing up, so Aang was the last of them. He stood, taking deep, steadying breaths to calm his heaving intestines, and smiled shakily at Katara. She did not return it.

Spinning slowly on the spot, the waterbender took in their surroundings. As she was doing this, she spotted four other bodies on their knees very close by. Squinting, Katara realized that she knew these people very well, and wasn't at all happy to be around them again.

The one in pink bounced up first, although without her usual vigor. She spotted Katara and started, large brown eyes taking in the rest of her friends who were now all standing up, including Sokka. She smirked slightly.

The other three closely followed their friend, and Katara's worst suspicions were confirmed. There was Mai, the scary dagger throwing girl, Azula, the dangerous blue lightning lady, and Zuko the insane fire prince who had chased them around the world.

The two groups just stared at each other, both feeling too sick to make any move towards the others. But their eyes burned into the others, and growls and snarls rose from most of their throats.

"_If you aren't going to toss up your cookies again, why don't you turn around?" _It was that voice again. The teens complied and what they saw took their newly regained breath away.

On thrones of different materials sat many men and woman looking too real. They sat looking down at the humans, all with different expressions on their faces. There were old men and women, young ones, tall, short, beautiful, not-so-beautiful, and everything in between.

The one who had spoken smirked at them with brown eyes that were so dark they could be black. Her hair lay flat on her shoulders, cascading down in a golden-brown waterfall. Her face was pale, and there was a twinkle in her eyes that told you not to mess with her.

"_Know who we are?"_ she asked, and all of the new additions to the spirit world flinched, covering their ears. That voice was never meant for human ears.

"Tone down the volume, won't you?" asked Sokka, looking up at the people through narrowed eyes.

She laughed but complied, and when she next said something, they found that they could listen without a need to have some very strong ear plugs.

The question was repeated. Sokka snorted and was about to reply with a defiant "No!" when his eye saw a princess sitting on one of those chairs. Her hair was white, her eyes were blue, and he knew her very well from before.

"Yue!" he exclaimed, running forward. He stopped right in front of her, looking at her with a mixture of wonder and awe.

The other's heads snapped around to where Sokka was standing. Yue shifted a bit uncomfortably by being looked at like that by her former friends. She smiled softly. "Hello Sokka,"

"But you're the moon spirit!" he told her, as though she didn't already know. The warrior stepped back to look at all of the other people there, who were staring between him and Yue curiously. She nodded and rolled her eyes. This was the Sokka that she had known.

Aang was the first one to come to a conclusion. "You're gods!" he exclaimed, taking a half step back and looking more closely at everyone who was there. Toph and Katara followed his lead, mouths hanging open.

A large, old male in the center said in a ringing voice, even though it was "toned down", "Who would like to do the honors for our guests?" he looked around before his eyes settled on a young woman on his far left. "Kaia?"

She nodded and stood up. "You eight are here to prove the purity of the human race," she told them, and Toph raised an eyebrow. Purity? Talk about cheesy. But she waited and listened.

Yue shook her head slowly, "Liar," she whispered, tears in her eyes. Sokka's head whipped around, but she shook her head, indicating that she would tell him later. He raised his eyebrows, but stepped back more and listened to Kaia.

"You will be put through many tests. If you _all _pass them all, then you will be allowed to go back to earth and live in peace," she smiled at them, and Zuko shivered. Her smile was like Azula's.

"Wait, why are we here?" Aang spoke up bravely. He had never dealt with any real gods before, and was nervous.

Kaia rolled her eyes. "You humankind are idiots for starting a war that might end up killing you all. But," she put up her hands as though in defeat, "if you can prove that you are worthy to live, then we'll let you."

Mai looked at her in disgust. "We have to prove that we should be allowed to live?" she drawled, fingering a dagger.

The girl who they had all first heard rolled her eyes in a very un-godlike way. "Are you all deaf? Yes!" and she grinned at them, the twinkle intensifying.

The man in the center stood, towering above all of them. "This forest," he gestured around them, "will be your home for now. Make yourselves comfortable, but not too much so, because you will be starting tomorrow,"

He dismissed them with a flick of his hand, and Yue speedily stood up. "I'll show you guys," she told them. "Follow me," the moon spirit walked hastily into the forest, not saying anything to any of them until they were out of earshot of the other gods.

"Yue, what's going on?" Sokka asked, keeping pace with her. They were already in a clearing, a cool place where the light filtered through the leaves and made the atmosphere green. A clear stream tinkled merrily as it wound by.

Yue turned around and looked at them. They were all still feeling too sick to care about being near their enemies, and sat down heavily. Katara put her face in her hands, and Zuko crossed his arms.

Aang looked like he was about to say something, but Yue shook her head fiercely. "None of you speak- I'm going to tell you what's going on around here. Everything." She began to pace, wondering where to start.

"The war is going to be over soon, all of us know that, even though we don't know how it's going to end." She had barely begun when she was interrupted.

"What do you mean? You're a _goddess_," Ty Lee told her as though she didn't know, the second time in five minutes someone had said something like that to her. She took a deep breath and turned to face the happy girl.

"Gods aren't all-knowing. In fact, a lot of the time I have absolutely no idea what little things are going on in the normal world. There's only one goddess who can do that, and that's Kaia." She made a face as though she had just eaten a lemon. "She's not my favorite. Anyway, she's the knowledge goddess. Huge responsibility."

This didn't seem to have sunk in. "You're a _goddess_," Zuko repeated Ty Lee, the first time he had spoken. "That's impossible. You've got to know."

"You guys have strange notions about gods," Yue told them. "There are _rules_. There are _jobs_. If one of us did everything we'd explode. And we can't interfere with things like free will, although we can influence."

They were all looking at her like she was crazy, so she just shook her head and continued. "So, the war is going to end, and there is nothing for us to do now. Absolutely nothing, Kaia has checked multiple times. They came up with this idea that kids would be brought here and we would put them through tests for _fun_." Disgust was apparent on her face, and the moon spirit looked miserable.

"But she- Kaia- said that-"

"Who says gods can't lie?" asked Yue harshly, spinning to face Toph. Then her face grew softer and she sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just so uptight. I think it's wrong. They chose you eight because you're affecting the war, and it might give us something else to do after you're returned." She shook her head. "But I can't do anything about it."

"What do you mean?" asked Aang, eyes wide. "What do you mean you can't do anything about it?"

"I can't go against the other gods, that's impossible! All of them against me- no contest. Especially because I'm new." Yue stopped pacing and faced them all. "I'll try to do everything I can to help you, but it won't do much good."

"Can't you send us back or something?" asked Sokka hopefully.

"No, weren't you listening?! There are _rules; _I don't have the power to do that sort of stuff." She sat down and put her head in her hands.

Mai was looking at her with something that could be disgust, but it wasn't clear. She leaned closer to Azula, trying to be as far away as possible from the unhappy goddess.

"Well, why didn't they bring Aang like the way he does when he's trying to contact the Avatar state?" asked Katara, having witnessed this a few times. Yue had been there once, too.

"Because then Aang could leave whenever he wanted. His whole body wouldn't be here, and he could find a way to save you." She bit her lip. "I don't really see any way out of this except to win."

That didn't sound very appealing to any of the teens, and they looked despairingly at each other. Then, there was a rustle to their left, and out stepped a man. He saw Yue there and went over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. Sokka stiffened and glared at the man.

"Yue, they're looking for you. You have to go." She looked up at him and nodded, standing up and reluctantly walking out of the clearing, waving goodbye to them before she disappeared. Over her shoulder she called, "That's Tui; he's on our side."

Azula lay on her back, relieve that her stomach had decided to settle. "So that's the moon spirit, huh? No wonder Zhao tried to kill her." She smirked.

Tui gave the princess a sharp look. "Are you saying that because you're a firebender? If so, you should meet Dezo; he's a creep." Tui stood before them and sighed.

"I don't know what to say. I want to help you, but there's no way I could overrule all of the other's powers combined. I'm so sorry," he looked at all of them in turn, sincere. "I've seen some of these tasks… no one should have to be put through them. Ever. I don't know if you'll all survive them."

"Thanks," said Toph, leaning against Katara. "You're really making us feel better about this." Tui laughed, a soothing sound.

"I just came here to give you some advice. I wanted to tell you about the gods; then you might be able to tell what kind of challenges they'll give you. You should have fair warning about some of them."

After a pause, he dove right into it. "Kaia's sugary on the outside, but she can be spiteful and cruel. Be careful.

There's a man, you'll recognize him. He's small, curly brown hair. He's Jo Nui, god of weather. Cheery and unfeeling.

Next is a woman who has vines in her hair and pretty much everywhere else. Terzia, goddess of nature. She's blunt and sharp.

Dezo, lightning and fire. He's very cruel, and doesn't mind pain as long as it's not directed to him.

Ouranos, god of the sky. Wise and strong.

Karhani, she's the trickster goddess and minor goddess of choices." He smiled at the thought of her. "She's the one you first heard speak. She makes fun of everyone, and loves a good joke. She's sly, so be cautious with her.

Gaia, goddess of the earth. She's wise like Ouranos, but gentler. They both came first.

Saneo is the god of air and major choices. Last but not least, me as the ocean and Yue as the moon." He sighed again. "There's more, but I don't think you'd be able to remember." At a groan from Sokka who was clutching his stomach he added. "Also because you're sick. You'll be feeling like that for a while, because of the way we brought you here. Sorry," he stood up. "I have to go. Good luck tomorrow."

They watched him leave as well and all fell onto their backs. Mai voiced everyone's thoughts, not to anyone in particular. "Gods are weird."

They were all in agreement, and fell asleep to escape their predicament for now. Maybe when they woke up, they would find out it was all a dream.

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**Author's Notes:**

Is it just me, or did it look like I put a little Zucest in there? It was _not _intended, although if you like it, great!

This was a long chapter, because I wanted to get them interacting and finding out at least part of what was going on. Sorry if you liked the shorter chapters better.

Oh yeah, rating upped because I just remembered some of the things that I want to put in here, and it's a bit disgusting, I don't know how I come up with this stuff. I will warn you when a chapter like that is here, so you can skip it if you want, although you might miss something important.

Please read and review!


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